English
Thus, it should be understood that form itself is a condition for the sixth sense base, and for the six sense bases. But name and form, enumerated as the three aggregates and base form, for the sixth sense base, in rebirth, it becomes a condition according to suitability through co-nascence, mutuality, dependence, association, separation, result, presence, and non-disappearance, and so on. Thus, it should be understood that name, and form, and name-and-form, according to suitability, are a condition for the sixth sense base, and for the six sense bases. Dependent on the six sense bases arises contact. But the sixth sense-sphere, both resultant and non-resultant, is a condition in nine ways or eight ways for associated contact everywhere, by way of co-nascence, etc. The five sense-spheres, beginning with the eye-sphere, are conditions in six ways for the arising of the five contacts, beginning with eye-contact, by way of dependence, pre-nascence, faculty, dissociation, presence, and non-disappearance, respectively. The five sense-objects, beginning with the form-sphere, are conditions in three ways for them, by way of object, pre-nascence, presence, and non-disappearance. But for mind-contact, those, the object of mental phenomena, and thus also by way of object-dominance, are conditions in many ways. Thus, it should be understood that both the sixth sense-sphere and the six sense-spheres are conditions for all six kinds of contact. In the section on feeling as condition, all contact is a condition in eight ways or seven ways for co-nascent feelings, by way of co-nascence, reciprocity, dependence, result, nutriment, association, presence, and non-disappearance, but only by way of dependence for non-co-nascent feelings. In the section on craving as condition, resultant feeling is a condition for craving that lies latent, by way of dependence and by way of co-nascence, etc. For since – The suffering desire happiness, the happy desire even more; But equanimity, when heated, is said to desire happiness; Therefore, by craving as condition, there are also the three feelings. In the section on grasping as condition, non-co-nascent craving is a condition for all four kinds of grasping, by way of dependence and by way of contiguity, etc., but co-nascent craving is a condition in seven ways for the three, excluding sense-pleasure grasping, by way of root, co-nascence, reciprocity, dependence, association, presence, and non-disappearance. In the section on becoming as condition, all four kinds of grasping are conditions only by way of dependence for both non-co-nascent karma-becoming and rebirth-becoming, but for co-nascent karma-becoming, it is a condition by way of root, co-nascence, etc. In the section on birth as condition, becoming is understood as karma-becoming, and it is a condition in two ways for birth, by way of karma-condition and dependence-condition. In the section on aging and death, etc., as condition, birth But only as a condition, in the way of the Suttanta method, up to the limit of dependence, for the arising of old age and death, and sorrow, etc. This, then, is the way of condition here. Since these twelve factors, beginning with ignorance, are empty of agent, etc., and are thus mutually bound, through the nature of condition and conditioned, uninterrupted, without beginning, and independent of each other, therefore, they are devoid of an agent such as Brahmā, or a cause such as primordial matter, atoms, etc., or a self imagined by others as an agent or experiencer. And these are not a self, nor in a self, nor possessed of a self, they are empty of self, or of that belonging to self, or of permanence, or of pleasure, or of happiness. This is emptiness of agent, etc. Herein, as to root, duration, connection, summary, mode, round, and division: First, as to root, ignorance and craving, these two factors should be understood as roots. As to duration, ignorance and volitional formations, these two factors are the past duration; consciousness, etc., ending with becoming, these eight are the present duration; birth and old age and death, these two are the future duration. Thus, three durations should be understood. As to connection, between volitional formations and rebirth-consciousness is one connection of cause and result; between feeling and craving is one connection of result and cause; between becoming and birth is one connection of cause and result. Thus, three connections should be understood. As to summary, there are four summaries established at the beginning, middle, and end of the connections. That is to say: ignorance and volitional formations are one summary; consciousness, name-and-form, six sense bases, contact, and feeling are the second; craving, clinging, and becoming are the third; birth, old age, and death are the fourth. Thus, four summaries should be understood. As to mode, herein: Five causes in the past, five results in the present; Five causes in the present, five results in the future. Thus, there are twenty modes. Here, ignorance and volitional formations are stated in their own nature; craving, clinging, and becoming, being inseparable from them, are included by their inclusion. These five factors are called causes in the past. Ignorance and volitional formations, stated in their own nature, These five things beginning with consciousness are now called the five fruits, but in essence, they are said to be craving, clinging, and becoming. By grasping them, ignorance and volitional formations, which are inseparable from them, are also grasped. These five are now called the causes. The five things beginning with consciousness, spoken of under the designation of birth and so on, are in the future called the five fruits. Thus, twenty aspects should be understood. Here, in the cycle, volitional formations and becoming are the cycle of action, ignorance, craving, and clinging are the cycle of defilements, and the rest are the cycle of results. As long as the cycle of defilements is not cut off by the Noble Path, this wheel of existence continues uninterrupted. This is the division here of the root, the connection, the summary, the aspects, and the cycle. In "like a barrier," firstly, as a barrier – "conditioned by ignorance are volitional formations" prevents the view of causelessness and unequal causes; "conditioned by volitional formations is consciousness" prevents the view of annihilation, self, and transmigration; "conditioned by consciousness are name and form" prevents the perception of solidity, from the view of a self-imagined object; "conditioned by name and form are the six sense bases," and so on, prevents the view that the self sees...perceives...knows, touches, feels, craves, clings, becomes, is born, ages, and dies. This here is the prevention of wrong views. In the simile here, ignorance is like a blind man, his stumbling is like volitional formations, his falling is like consciousness, the appearance of a boil from it is like name and form, the pustules of the boil are like the six sense bases, the contact with them is like contact, the suffering born of it is like feeling, the desire for a remedy for the suffering is like craving, taking what is unsuitable is like clinging, applying what is unsuitable is like becoming, the appearance of a change in the boil from it is like birth, the change in the boil is like aging and death. Or, from the prevention of seeing things as they are, these things beginning with ignorance should be understood with similes like a cataract of the eye. This here is the simile. In "the variety of profound methods," firstly, the profound variety is that each of these, beginning with ignorance, is a thing. The profundity of meaning, teaching, and penetration should be understood. For these phenomena, ignorance and so on, the way and the condition by which they are the causes of effects like formations, that causal meaning is profound, difficult to understand; this is the profundity of the Dhamma here. Dhamma means cause, "knowledge of the cause is analytical knowledge of the Dhamma," so it is said. For effects like aging and death, the state of being produced and arisen from causes like birth is profound, difficult to understand; this is the profundity of the meaning. Meaning means effect, "knowledge of cause and effect is analytical knowledge of the meaning," so it is said. But the teaching of those causes and effects in that particular way, without contradiction, is within the scope of the knowledge of the All-Knowing One, and is profound; this is the profundity of the teaching. But the inherent nature of these, ignorance, formations, and so on, such as not seeing, not combining, is profound because it is difficult for the dull-witted to grasp; this is the profundity of penetration; this is the distinction of profundity here. The distinction of methods here should be understood in terms of these four methods of meaning: the method of oneness, the method of difference, the method of non-activity, and the method of such-is-ness. Therein, "Conditioned by ignorance are formations, conditioned by formations is consciousness," thus, like the attainment of tree-hood by a seed in the form of a sprout and so on, the unbroken continuity is called the method of oneness. Seeing it rightly, one abandons the annihilation view through understanding the unbroken continuity in the relationship of cause and effect; seeing it wrongly, one clings to the eternalist view through grasping the oneness of the unbroken continuity occurring in the relationship of cause and effect. But the distinct establishment of the characteristics of ignorance and so on, each according to its own nature, is called the method of difference. Seeing it rightly, one abandons the eternalist view through seeing the arising of new and new things; seeing it wrongly, one clings to the annihilation view through grasping the difference